YouTube TV, ESPN, and Disney: the latest on the blackout that’s now over – The Verge

Disney and ESPN are back on YouTube TV

2025-11-14T22:33:45-05:00

ESPN and other Disney-owned channels will be returning to YouTube TV following a new agreement announced Friday. More than 20 channels went dark on YouTube TV on October 30th, but two weeks later - and after CEOs Bob Iger and Sundar Pichai reportedly got more involved in negotiations - the companies have reached a deal.

"Key elements" of the deal include, according to Disney:

Carriage of Disney's full linear portfolio including all the ESPN networks, ABC, the Disney-branded channels, Freeform, the FX Networks, and the National Geographic channels

ESPN's new direct-to-consumer service (Unlimited Plan) to be made available at no addition …

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Disney is losing over $4 million a day in revenue on the YouTube TV blackout

2025-11-11T14:28:19-05:00

Disney's spat with Google's YouTube TV over a new content distribution contract is costing the entertainment giant $4.3 million a day in lost revenue, Morgan Stanley estimates.

That's $30 million a week as the blackout of channels including ABC and ESPN stretches into its 12th day, Variety reports, though the analysts expect Disney and Google to reach a resolution by the end of the week. The dispute is also costing Google - Variety reports that a Drive Research survey of 1,100 US consumers found 24 percent canceled or planned to cancel their subscriptions.

More than 20 Disney-owned channels went dark on YouTube TV after their contract expi …

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Films from YouTube and Google Play are no longer available on Movies Anywhere

2025-11-05T18:57:29-05:00

If you logged into your Movies Anywhere account in the past few days, you might have noticed some titles missing from your library, specifically content purchased on Google Play and YouTube. As of October 31st, movies from either platform are no longer available on Movies Anywhere.

The change was announced on a brief help page on Movies Anywhere, which simply states: "Effective 10/31/25, Google Play/YouTube will no longer participate in the Movies Anywhere program." There are no further details about the reasoning behind the break-up. It appears that movies that were already synced to Movies Anywhere from a Google account are still accessi …

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ESPN, ABC, and other Disney channels go dark on YouTube TV

2025-11-03T19:26:16-05:00

More than 20 Disney-owned channels, including ESPN, ABC, and Nat Geo, have been pulled from YouTube TV after Google and Disney failed to reach a new content distribution agreement. The previous contract expired at 11:59 PM ET on October 30th, and it's unclear when, or if, the two companies will reach a new deal.

The blackout was prompted by disagreements over carriage fees, with Google saying in a blog post published last week that Disney was "proposing costly economic terms that would raise prices on YouTube TV customers." That same post was updated at 11:15PM on Thursday, claiming that Disney had followed through on threats to pull its ch …

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Disney is suing YouTube for poaching a key media and sports executive

2025-05-22T19:54:54-04:00

As YouTube prepares to air an exclusive NFL opening week game for free on September 5th, it's hiring former Disney exec Justin Connolly. The move has caused Disney to respond by suing both YouTube and Connolly, saying he was in the middle of leading the team negotiating Disney's license renewal with YouTube.

He'd most recently been running the streaming services and linear media networks at Disney, and will take over as YouTube's new global head of media and sports, as first reported by Bloomberg. After spending more than 20 years at Disney and ESPN, he'll be managing YouTube's relationship with the media companies that distribute content o …

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